Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,070,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the March 31st total of 7,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 15,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.15, for a total value of $1,202,250.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 243,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,546,982. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 32.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,355 shares of the company's stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,105 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,904 shares of the company's stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 20.4% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 74,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,124,000 after acquiring an additional 12,640 shares during the period. Strs Ohio increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 22.6% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 12,703 shares of the company's stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,338 shares during the period. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 190.8% in the third quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 194,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,745,000 after acquiring an additional 127,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Shift4 Payments Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of FOUR traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $58.35. The stock had a trading volume of 899,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,390,956. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.59. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $70.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.86. Shift4 Payments has a 12-month low of $42.91 and a 12-month high of $92.30.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 27.35% and a net margin of 3.36%. The firm had revenue of $269.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.85 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.95.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

Shift4 Payments, Inc (NYSE FOUR) provides integrated payment processing and technology solutions in the United States. Its payments platform provides omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions, including end-to-end payment processing for various payment types; merchant acquiring; proprietary omni-channel gateway; complementary software integrations; integrated and mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions; security and risk management solutions; and reporting and analytical tools, as well as tokenization, risk management/underwriting, payment device and chargeback management, fraud prevention, and gift card solutions.